The Legend of Tarzan isn’t your father’s Tarzan by any means. In fact, The Legend of Tarzan, an all-new story based on the character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, from director David Yates, is a romantic adventure that begins with John Clayton, Lord Greystoke (Alexander Skarsgård), aka Tarzan, and wife Jane (Margot Robbie) happily ensconced in London when they are asked to return to the country of his birth.

The twist is that John has been invited back to the Congo, not to serve as a trade emissary for British Parliament as he has been led to believe, but as payment in a deadly story of greed and revenge, masterminded by the King of Belgium’s envoy, Leon Rom (Christoph Waltz).

The just-released The Legend of Tarzan, has all the action, epic landscapes, thrilling animal encounters, and politics viewers can hope to see in a movie, but what truly resonates is the love story between John and Jane — and how they are incomplete without each other and will do anything to be reunited after they are separated — as well as John’s deep connection to the natural world.

This Jane is more about female empowerment than Janes in the past. She doesn’t wait to be rescued. Was that important to you?

Robbie: I think it was important that a contemporary audience could relate to Jane. The book was written a long time ago and I think ideologies have changed since then. First and foremost, there is a love story at the core. I don’t think that being in love with your husband should be a weakness. I think that actually makes her stronger, so I wanted that definitely to be the focus, but then, though they are so dependent on each other and can’t live without each other, when they are apart, which they are for a lot of the movie, they are incredibly capable when they are alone. It would have been boring to watch her sitting there waiting to be rescued. It is far more entertaining to watch her getting herself out of the predicament as well, so it worked on a character level; it also works on an entertainment level as well. I think it is important to make sure she could be relatable to women watching. I hope women watching would be, “Go, girl. Get it.”

This Tarzan doesn’t wear a loincloth. Why is that?

Skarsgård: I was trying to get a sexy loincloth. In fact, I tried to convince David for weeks when we were doing preps, but the way the script is written, it doesn’t make sense. I was a huge fan of Tarzan. I was really excited when I heard that David and Warner Bros. were making this movie, but, of course, it has been told what, 200 times over the past 100 years? You always have to figure out why are we doing t again. You open the script and we are having tea with the prime minister and it’s brilliant, so the loincloth didn’t work.

What was the workout like to get in shape for the role?

Skarsgård: It was different phases. The first three months was bulking up while I was in L.A. wrapping up True Blood with Tupperwares full of 7,000 calories a day of steak and potatoes and that kind of stuff and weight lifting. When I got to London a month and half before we started the movie, I had a great opportunity to work with Wayne McGregor, who is one of the best choreographers in the world. Probably my favorite part of the experience was working with Wayne on the physicality of the character, so that he is flexible and agile when he moves through the jungle but he doesn’t look like a body builder. Even though I wanted to put on some weight, the goal wasn’t just to look buff. It was to look athletic.

Margot and I worked with Wayne on trust exercises. We would recreate scenes of how they met that aren’t in the movie. It was so nice to have that because we had so little screen time before we were torn apart. It was nice to have that relationship off camera, because when we have those moments, hopefully, the audience will feel we have a deeper connection.

How as the diet?

The diet was horrible. I’ve got to give credit to Guy, our chef, who really tried to make it … He’s an amazing chef, but he had his hands tied because there was no sugar, no dairy, it was a very strict diet. So when we wrapped the movie, my father [Stellan Skarsgård] was shooting in London, so I got in my car and went to his house. My dad loves to cook, so I spent four days on his couch just being fed. It was the most incredible weekend of my life. It was bone marrow, fried mozzarella, pasta, and red wine.

What was your favorite Tarzan movie?

Robbie: I missed the early iterations of Tarzan. My version was the Disney animated version, which I loved. No way was I, “I want to grow up and play Jane,” but that was my exposure to it. Then when I read the script, it felt amazing and exciting and epic, and all these things, but it is still a well-known story, and one that involves a lot of elements that in the wrong hands could end up cheesy. When I heard David Yates was going to be the one directing it — someone who took the Harry Potter movies and gave them such a magical feel, but also realness in it, I thought, “That is exactly what this script needs, and this is the exact person to create this magical world with real relationships and real scenarios in it.” I was really confident to sign on.

Skarsgård: I was actually a Tarzan fan as a kid, the old Johnny Weissmuller movies because of my father, who is one of the biggest Tarzan fans out there. Every Saturday, he would go to the matinee in the small town in Sweden where he grew up, and watched the old movies. He introduced me to Tarzan, so that’s how I fell in love with him, the jungle, and that whole world.

What was the most difficult thing for you to do in this movie as Jane?

Robbie: It was new to me to be reacting to things that weren’t in front of me, so although we had the most incredible sets you’ve ever seen, everything was tangible because the jungle was right there, but the animals weren’t. To get a grasp of the size of these animals was mindboggling, so we would have someone run out with a cardboard cutout of how big the wildebeest would be that you were running amongst, so I would be, “I need to adjust my eye line from here, to way taller than me.”

It wouldn’t be a Tarzan movie without the call. We get to hear it twice. Was that you?

Skarsgård: It was a tricky one because you obviously have to have it in the movie, because otherwise people would be, “Where’s the call?” When you watch the old movies, they are quite dated, especially the call. It comes at these moments when he is hunting and you definitely don’t want it to be a comedic moment. That [he makes sound] would take you out of the movie. I didn’t come up with the idea of doing it the way it is, but I think it’s smart to, instead of having a cheesy shot of Tarzan doing the call, you see the impact on the antagonist’s face (Walz) because it makes it more eerie and haunting. I thought it was a smart way of having it in the movie but avoid being cheesy or comedic, which would be even worse.

Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures’ The Legend of Tarzan is in theaters now.

AMG/Parade Digital

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